First day in Phoenix

Hey everyone! This is my first time blogging, so bear with me. I decided to start doing this since, being that I just moved to Phoenix and arrived here yesterday, I won't have much to do until I find myself a job down here (and I can't look 24/7, right?), and my life is always full of adventures, so it would be fun to keep you all posted! Indeed. I know my friends and family will be wondering what I have been up to lately in the desert, and I can tell you that I will try my best to keep you updated.

Here's a little glimpse of what I have been doing so far:

Arrived yesterday after a very uneventful 20-hour drive with Erik. Good uneventful. No accidents, no fires that we could see in California, no car troubles. We did stop in Redding on the way down to see some friends, Bryce and Sheila, though, and glad we did. Stopped in Santa Nella at a Best Western for the night. It smelled of cows (memories of Corvallis living!). Just passed San Bernardino, CA we saw hundreds, if not thousands of windmills for wind-energy which was pretty cool.

Crossing into Arizona was perfect--the sun was setting just as the moon was rising and made for a beautiful sunset/moonrise!

It's warm here, of course. Not bad, though. 'Just' 90 today, and I think the rest of the week will be in the mid-90's and later the 80's. I'm enjoying it after freezing my arse off in Oregon, too early I must add.

Moved all my junk in this morning with the help of Erik before he had to go to work. I really didn't have all that much stuff--just enough to squish into my little Jetta and still be able to see out the back window! When he went to work I took it upon myself to clean the apartment and get my stuff unpacked and "in place". For those of you that don't know, Erik has lived here a month already, and being the first chick roommate he's had, I didn't want to overpower "girlyness" by bringing in a bunch of pink foo-foo stuff, although that would have made for a good laugh (a.k.a. the movie "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"). Not that I like pink foo-fooness, but hey, I've got some womanly taste. So I only brought the neccessities: kitchen supplies, clothes, a shower curtain, and things I canNOT live without (3 cameras, laptop, and random stuff I bought in Australia). Oh, and a bunch of wall pictures. So far Erik doesn't seem to mind. He was a bit surprised to walk into a clean apartment though ;). I bought a vacuum that I couldn't figure out how to put together so I gave up and stashed that in the hall closest... Other than that, just trying to figure out my ways around this town. Phoenix is huge. Nearly 4 million people, and they all spread way out, rather than building up. It takes forever just to get from one side of Phoenix to the other. We live in Chandler, which is on the outskirts of Phoenix suburbs. It's pretty nice--all new developments. But the apartment complex doesn't recycle! What's up with that?! I guess I didn't realize that not all states are as good about it as Oregon. Arizonians sure aren't what you call "environmentalists", so it will take some time for me to fit in down here, but maybe I can get my voice out there. That's what this place needs! Another difference: the plants and animals are all way different down here, so I have a lot of learning to do... Cactuses are CRAZY!

Ok that's enough for now. Hope you had as much fun as I did.